At Gillingham we will no longer use the term kindergarten. The word kindergarten means child garden. It is a German word used by Freobel when he first established kindergartens. We are going to be using the term, still German, developed by an early childhood specialist, Dr. Jack Beckman. That term is kinderleben. It means child life. The reason for this switch in the use of terms is to indicate that at Gillingham we value the whole life of the child. Education then becomes about the whole person and who that whole person can become as he or she lives in relation with others, past, future and present and with things and places. Our goal at Gillingham is to see that children have a relationship with the whole of life not just what happens in a building. Therefore, because we don't believe we are "tending" children like tending a garden, but rather, we are helping children develop and grow for a full life. For these reasons we will use the term kinderleben.
In our classroom we like to learn through playing and using our imagination!
Kinderleben... The meaning behind the name
At Gillingham we will no longer use the term kindergarten. The word kindergarten means child garden. It is a German word used by Freobel when he first established kindergartens. We are going to be using the term, still German, developed by an early childhood specialist, Dr. Jack Beckman. That term is kinderleben. It means child life. The reason for this switch in the use of terms is to indicate that at Gillingham we value the whole life of the child. Education then becomes about the whole person and who that whole person can become as he or she lives in relation with others, past, future and present and with things and places. Our goal at Gillingham is to see that children have a relationship with the whole of life not just what happens in a building. Therefore, because we don't believe we are "tending" children like tending a garden, but rather, we are helping children develop and grow for a full life. For these reasons we will use the term kinderleben.
In our classroom we like to learn through playing and using our imagination!